


In From the Cold

by nightflyer42



Series: The Adventures of Gabriel the cat [1]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, There is a cat, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 03:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9216788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightflyer42/pseuds/nightflyer42
Summary: Hannibal brings a new addition to the family.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, this happened, probably because it's snowing a lot here. It was going to be a tiny drabble, because I have a shit-ton of work and apparently won't be sleeping tonight. It seems that when cats are involved, my brain won't shut up. This is pure, tooth-rotting fluff. You have been warned.

As soon as the car pulled up, all dogs launched themselves with excited yapping, bumping into each other and scrabbling towards the door. Will shook his head and followed the dogs to greet Hannibal. On the way, he looked out the window. It was snowing even harder and according to the forecast it would snow through the night.

The sound of the front door opening and closing precipitated another storm of excitement and Will leaned against the wall in amusement, watching Hannibal try and shake the snow from his hair and boots and wade his way through the flurry of fur at his feet, patting heads and scratching ears with exasperated fondness. Finally he lost his patience and ordered, “Sit!”

Seven furry bottoms immediately landed on the floor and there was finally silence, interrupted only by a soft whine here and there. In that tone of voice, Will understood them very well. Hannibal scratched each dog as a reward, promising treats later, and finally managed to reach Will.

“Good evening, my dear,” he leaned in for a kiss, but he held his upper body awkwardly away and Will raised an eyebrow, noticing a lump in Hannibal’s coat. Before he could inquire, the lump stirred and emitted a pitiful “Meep”.

Will blinked several times, but the lump was still moving and making noises. He looked up at Hannibal; his expression was a mixture of amusement and embarrassment.

“Hannibal, what do you have in your coat?” Will asked casually, as if it was a regular occasion. Hannibal cleared his throat, rolled his eyes and finally relented, opening the top two buttons of his coat. There, curled against his chest, wrapped in a handkerchief and blinking with sleepy blue eyes, was the smallest, filthiest kitten Will has ever seen. Its fur was wet and matted with dirt, which had transferred liberally onto Hannibal’s cashmere sweater. The dirt could be removed, but the tiny claws had left numerous pulled threads, rendering the sweater unsalvageable. Hannibal inspected the damage with a sigh and carefully extracted the loudly protesting kitten from his coat.

“It was hiding under the car. I looked around a little, but I didn’t see the mother. It seemed cruel to leave it to die in the snow.”

Will’s smile broadened and he reached out a finger towards the kitten, receiving an uncoordinated paw swipe and a baleful glare for his trouble.

“You are going to be a handful, aren’t you?” he asked. Unfortunately, the dogs noticed the intruder and came to inspect the mewling lump. At that, the kitten panicked and almost managed to slip from Hannibal’s grasp. Will caught it, shushed the dogs and decided to deal with the situation in the bathroom.

“Go and change, I’ll meet you in the upstairs bathroom. This little guy needs a bath first, and then some food.”

Hannibal seemed a little taken aback when Will made it clear that Hannibal would be doing the actual washing. After some instruction, though, he wasn’t doing half-bad. Apparently tired, the kitten had stopped fighting, just emitting pitiful meows at regular intervals. Every time it did Hannibal stopped, but Will encouraged him to continue.

“You aren’t hurting him, he just doesn’t like the water. We’ll get him dry soon.”

“Him? Can you tell?”

“Not for sure, but the chance is fifty-fifty.”

Will stood back and let Hannibal finish, watching him carefully pour warm water on the kitten, his shirt wet and his hands covered in claw marks. He didn’t seem to mind, he was actually smiling and muttering something  to the little furball, in _French_. It was such a surreal sight, Will had to chuckle.

Happy that the ordeal of a bath was over, the kitten did not protest being dried with a towel and even endured the hairdryer at the lowest setting. With his fur dry, he fluffed up a bit and didn’t seem so very tiny anymore. He had light gray and white stripes with white socks and patches on his face; actually, he cleaned up well. Will was wondering if he would eat solids, but when Hannibal returned with a small disposable bowl of cooked liver, the ferocity with which the cat tackled it eased his worries. The tiny beast was inhaling the liver, growling low in his throat. Hannibal chuckled and looked at Will, a strange wonder in his eyes. Briefly, Will considered Hannibal’s childhood. He was pretty certain that pets didn’t figure anywhere in that, except possibly very early. Later, well… Even as they lived together with the dogs, they were Will’s dogs first. This was a tiny life that Hannibal had plucked from the jaws of death, and now they would belong to each other. Will could relate.

He stroked Hannibal’ shoulder. “He needs a name.”

Hannibal pondered for a second and smiled.

“Gabriel. If he turns out to be a she, we only need to change the pronunciation to Gabrielle.”

Will rolled his eyes and picked up _Gabriel_ , who was licking the empty bowl, still growling slightly.

“Come on, we need to find you a place to sleep.”

It was clear that they couldn’t leave him downstairs with the dogs, so Will set up an old shoebox with a towel inside in the bedroom, and another box filled with torn newspapers as a makeshift litterbox. Of course, the kitten wouldn’t know what to do with it and they would probably need to do laundry in the morning, but he didn’t bring it up to Hannibal. He looked too content, lying on top of the comforter with Gabriel curled up on his chest, purring his heart out. Hannibal was petting his sides softly and Will quietly resigned to sleeping with the cat in the bed. He didn’t have the heart to part them and besides, if he placed Gabriel in the shoebox, he would probably come back to the bed. So he crawled onto the bed himself and snuggled next to Hannibal.

“We have to bring him to the vet first thing tomorrow.”

“Of course, Will.” Hannibal kept stroking the already sleeping kitten absent mindedly. “You know, I wasn’t sure I was going to take him home. I don’t know why I picked him up, but then he fought so fiercely, and then he glared at me with those blue eyes…”

Will groaned and covered his face with his hands.

“Really, now? Really?”

“Will, his eyes are the exact same shade of blue as yours. It’s uncanny.”

Will stood up, collecting all his dignity.

“I am going to fix something for dinner now, and feed the dogs. You stay and bond with mini-me.” At the door, he couldn’t resist a parting shot. “Bear in mind that he is likely to pee on your expensive sheets.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr](http://captainnightflyer.tumblr.com/)


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